With pets being more of a companion than mere animals for owners, there has been a significant increase in the amount of money spent on their upkeep.LONDON: Britain's biggest retailer Tesco is set to trial pet grooming services from next month to woo back shoppers to its supermarkets, according to a media report.

Tesco, facing fierce grocery price war and growing popularity of online purchases, is planning to open a 'Pet Den' in its Culverhouse Cross store in Cardiff next month that will allow shoppers to have their cats and dogs preened while they shop, The Telegraph reported.

The trial, which could be rolled out across more of the supermarket's 6,800 stores in the UK, is part of chief executive Dave Lewis' plans to repurpose Tesco's vast Extra stores, the report said.

Enthusiasm for superstores in the UK has waned significantly as shoppers opt to make more frequent trips to convenience stores or buy items online.

The decision to move into the pet grooming market comes as people are increasingly spending more on their animals in tune with Britain's reputation as a nation of animal lovers. Euromonitor has forecast a three per cent rise in pet care spending in 2015, to 4.6 billion pounds in the UK,

The pet grooming market is also a sweet spot for Tesco's new UK chief executive, Matt Davies, who led Pets at Home for eight years.

At Pets at Home, Davies, who owns a black Labrador, encouraged employees to bring their pets into head office.

"We're always looking at new ways our stores can best serve the needs of local customers, so we decided to trial introducing some great brands to five stores which complement our existing offer, including plans for a Pet Den at our Culverhouse Cross store in Cardiff," the paper quoted a Tesco spokesman as saying.

In October, Tesco said the company had fallen into a net loss during its first half of this year.

Losses after tax stood at 365 million pounds in the six months to the end of August, compared with a net profit of 6.0 million pounds during the corresponding period a year earlier, Tesco had said in a results statement in October.

In 2014, Tesco had entered into an agreement with Trent Limited, part of the Tata Group, to form a 50:50 joint venture in Trent Hypermarket Limited (THL) which operates the Star Bazaar retail business in India.

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